<p>Only very recently have scholars embarked on tapping the potentially rich wellspring of Jewish heritage music called klezmer. Since its revitalization starting in the 1970s, klezmer has effectively leaped from obscurity to institutionalization in a transformation of remarkable speed. Its vast appeal now testifies to the significance it bears in a myriad of cultural and social spheres-anything from religion and literature to consumerism and tourism. However, because klezmer remains a relatively new area of study, only the major centers of musical activity have enjoyed the privilege of serious observation and theorization.</p> <p>This thesis attempts to examine klezmer at a more intimate level, in some of the localities that have been, as yet, unexplored, but which maintain a vital position in the continuity and life of the music and its culture. An overview of klezmer, its revival, its contemporary context, and some of its key theoretical issues is followed by an investigation into the heart of its educational establishments-known colloquially as klezmer camps. These institutions allow for a practical application of the concept of the "hyper-real" proposed by French theorist Jean Baudrillard, since their foundations and structures, which often strive to simulate an older tradition, create instead a new kind of culture with an elusive underpinning. This idea is carried further in the ensuing exploration of klezmer culture in the city of Montreal, Quebec. Through individual interviews and the direct observation of the scene and its participants, recurring conceptions of rootedness and gender in klezmer are probed from theoretical standpoints, revealing highly complex relationships between klezmer enthusiasts and their city, background, language, and even each other. As result, klezmer culture is positioned as the product of influence by various local phenomena as well as by more broad, mythical, and even global developments.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/11540 |
| Date | 09 1900 |
| Creators | Newman, Jordan |
| Contributors | Kinder, K., Music Criticism |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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